Deloitte announces strategic collaboration with dsm-firmenich to bolster sustainable food value chains

Deloitte announced its expanded global collaboration with dsm-firmenich—innovators in nutrition, health, and beauty—to cultivate a more sustainable food system. This collaboration is part of Deloitte’s latest effort to explore, develop, and scale new climate and nature-positive solutions, working directly with businesses to help implement future-proof strategies and promote transparency across the food ecosystem.

dsm-firmenich’s innovative Software as a Service platform Sustell is at the center of the collaboration and is designed to calculate the environmental impact of producing animal protein at scale, harnessing data directly from the feed and farm sectors within an organization’s value chain. Producing sustainable eggs, meat, milk and seafood requires the ability to accurately assess environmental impact based on this primary data from the field, which also serves as a baseline from which improvements can be measured. Sustell can assist organizations in reducing their farm animal-related environmental footprint by helping identify impact hotspots and incorporating intervention modeling across various scenarios.

Deloitte will help expand and enhance the platform’s reach, improving vital economic information flow from processors and consumer-packaged goods providers to feed producers, farmers, and integrators. Deloitte will also help enable growth opportunities for businesses deploying the capabilities of Sustell by advising them on how to operate the platform, apply insights to their operations, and prepare environmental, social and governance reporting. More broadly, this collaboration will help bridge silos in the value chain by rapidly connecting ecosystem players to help create and protect value and collectively achieve meaningful sustainability improvements.

“The food industry needs holistic value chain transparency to make better choices and transform to future proof business models,” says Jorg Schalekamp, partner, Consulting, Deloitte Netherlands. “This collaboration will help leaders in the agricultural sector access the precise, real-time data and insights that they need to embed sustainability considerations into their operations, contributing to a virtuous cycle that can drive both a profitable agriculture sector and a more sustainable global food system.”

Animal farming alone accounts for 14.5% of all human-derived greenhouse gas emissions, and the agriculture sector is the largest contributor to global methane emissions. International regulatory entities are escalating their scrutiny of the agriculture sector, with the European Union’s Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive and Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive among some of the emerging regulations that require improved transparency regarding the environmental impacts of food, from farm to plate. This growing pressure for more sustainable agriculture and food systems leaves food producers increasingly looking for solutions to help identify and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, nitrate pollution, water usage, and biodiversity impacts while more effectively using raw materials.

“Sustell’s approach makes precise, tailored environmental accountability the new normal across the animal farming industry,” says Dr. David Nickell, vice president of Sustainability & Business Solutions at dsm-firmenich, Animal Nutrition & Health. “It is the standard that can help open the door to commercial opportunities by driving customer demand, enabling grants and preferential development finance, opening new income streams through carbon credits and data royalties, and lowering environmental impact. Our critical, on-the-ground insights on animal feed and farming, coupled with Deloitte’s global leadership and cross-sector knowledge, will help unlock the missing ingredients needed to create a greener food ecosystem for everybody.”

To further transform the food system and reduce its climate impacts, a cooperative approach is also needed between the food industry and the energy industry. This will help redefine production, distribution, and consumption models, promoting sustainability and a healthier planet.

“Collaboration across sectors and geographies is instrumental to achieving net-zero goals, and reimagining our food value chain is no exception,” says Deloitte Global Future of Food leader Randy Jagt. “Our expanded relationship with Sustell is one of many cross-industry collaborations that can help transform our food system. From regenerative agriculture and executive education programs with universities around the globe, to working with non-government organizations to find the optimal balance between protein and plant-based consumption, to leveraging technology to create more resilient supply chains and working toward zero waste, Deloitte is committed to supporting and accelerating the food systems transformation.”